Representatives from the SHA came to last week’s Council meeting and gave an update on the reconstruction project of Rt 1 from College Avenue to Rt 193.
Representatives told us that the undergrounding of utilities is off the table, at least for now, mainly because there is no funding available at this time. The issue may still come back if the project is awarded with the TIGER grant next year.
Other highlights of the project’s status include:
- Wider buffered sidewalk and bike lanes on both sides of Rt1.
- Landscaping (trees at 30 ft spacing) on both sides at some locations, on median at other locations (such as in front of Views).
- SHA will need to acquire part of some properties. The Tuxedo shop will be most likely affected.
- Schedule: By 2019, ROW property acquisition is expected to be completed. It will then take about 1-2 years for utility relocation and another 2-4 years for actual construction. Thus the entire construction will end some time between 2022 and 2025.
- The SHA has a contact for the redevelopment of Rt 1 in north College Park (phase 2 and 3), however funding for design is not available yet. In the mean time they’ve a separate project to build ADA compliant sidewalks on both sides of Rt1 in north College Park. Design has been completed and ROW acquisition process has started.
Please see here the SHA presentation slides